150G Rimless Macroalgae Tank

[Kataro]

So I figure I would start a new thread for my new tank. It used to be a full blown SPS tank, but I've decided to convert it to a macroalgae tank. It's still a work in progress. Still have some big colony that's pending pick up so it's a little messy right now.:twitch:


Goal is to have variety of small gobies / inverts swimming about in the tank covered with seagrass / other macroalgae and gorgonian


Livestock


- 15 Green Chromis
- 5 Blue Eye Cardinal
- 2 Springer Damsel
- 2 ORA Tiger Goby
- 1 Firefish
- 20 Trimma / Eviota Goby (Will be identified soon)


Picture of the tank before

Right side FTS (Left side is full of corals at the moment)

Dragonbreath

Ochtode

Violet Dream

Red Grape (Botryocladia)

Red Leaf

 

[Kataro]

Dragonface pair

Blue Maxi-Mini

Pom-Pom Crab

My Gobies (VERY SMALL)

 

[skinz78]

What made you decide to switch it over?

 

[landyn2004]

Wow very nice! colors are amazing.

 

[Kataro]

I had SPS growing like mad and it all looked real good. But I was saw this vid on youtube Life - Weedy seadragons dance into the night - BBC One - YouTube, along with others that show the macroalgae / seagrass habitat. It intrigued me, and I wanted to keep the really small inverts / fish in the tank, and have a healthy pod / mysid population roaming about; wasn't possible with a full blown reef habitat.

My plan is to have several sexy shrimps / anemone shrimps / pom pom crab / porcelain crabs and whatever small inverts I can find. Along with alot of trimma / eviota that people don't normally put in their tank

 

[_Alex_]

Very cool!

 

[GrampaDon]

Neat video

 

[Kataro]

Some pictures last night.. It seem out of the 19 gobies I got from Pet Inc, 18 are alive and well, though they hide alot and the missing one is INCREDIBLY small. I want more nano gobies in this tank!


ORA Tiger Goby (gobiosoma macrodon)

Eviota pellucida

Trimma Striata

Trimma Rubromaculatus

Eviota Bifasciata

Porcelain Crab

 

[Kataro]

Just picked up this anemone shrimp! Have a bunch of stuff coming this week, should be fun

 

[Kataro]

Took some more pictures today, enjoy! I have other algae that I didn't photograph since it was dirty or too hard to shoot.

Gracilaria

Masked Goby (Coryphopterus personatus) x13

Penicillus Dumetosusp

Spider Sponge (Trikentrion flabelliforme)

Gorgonian

Sargassum Sp.

???

 

[Kataro]

Turtle Grass (Thalassia Testudinum)

 

[reefingsaw]

very nice and peaceful tank you got there. no hungry, salvage tangs =)

 

[Akwarius]

Great job! This type of habitat is often overlooked. Will you be dosing anything special for the macros?

 

[Kataro]

I don't think I will be dosing anything, the sandbed is pretty old (Though was stirred around alot recently). Hopefully the seagrasses can get some nutrient from down under, and I feed my fish alot still. So that will provide the macro w/ enough nutrient in the water column.

Something I am changing is my lightning, I will be putting up 2 Radion on this tank to replace my Metal Halide.

 

[Kataro]

Got my Radion hung and hopefully I set the program right so it automatically do sunrise / sunset and moonlight and all that. I messed up a little bit.. it's too near the edge of the tank,but look like it's giving a good coverage, might try to move it a little bit.

 

[iReefer]

very cool.. some thing different

 

[Kataro]

Thought this video was really cool!

[video=youtube;QK0qP1QvbMY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK0qP1QvbMY[/video]

 

[Kataro]

Some pictures I took on my day off, I'm battling cyano and other algae at the moment. Added GFO and dosing vodka / vinegar to keep the excess nutrient down.


Very hard fish to photograph, always hiding

 

[skinz78]

Man that last pic is beautiful!

 

[Kataro]

More photos!


multicolor algae (green / red / purple)

Seagrasses are dying since I messed up some of the rhizome. Others are growing pretty well though.

Some of my maxi anemone

Side shots

Pipefish